Brody's Notes... It's Official! California has a Harvey Milk Day

San Francisco City Supervisor Harvey Milk 

Photo By Dan Nicoletta 

By Brody Levesque (Washington DC) Oct 13 | California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger unexpectedly signed two important pieces of legislation yesterday morning. The first bill creates an annual official state day commentating the life and achievements of slain San Francisco city supervisor Harvey Milk, coinciding with his birthday on May 22nd. The second bill is a LGBT rights bill that recognises LGBT marriages performed in other states as legally binding in California. 

The author of both, California State Senator Mark Leno, (D-San Francisco) had this to say about the Governor's actions;

" I am pleasantly surprised that the governor put his pen to both of the bills."

The Senator also said he believed Schwarzenegger finally signed the bill this session to establish a day for the late San Francisco supervisor because "Harvey Milk Day is an idea whose time has come.

''In the past, Schwarzenegger could suggest that Harvey was a local personality,'' he stated.

Senator Leno noted that Milk's life and accomplishments were recognized in a shower of honors last year: including the the Oscar-winning film, "Milk,'' the biopic starring Sean Penn, [The actor also lobbied for the measure.] the President's Medal of Freedom awarded by President Obama in a White House ceremony last month and then finally, an induction into the Governor's own California Hall of Fame

When asked about the ongoing opposition and political free for all over the LGBT marriage issue from groups such as Save California.com whose press release called Governor Schwarzenegger's actions "outrageous," Leno remarked that,

"The vitriol spoke for itself." On the marriage issue, "we wrote the bill very specifically to match not only the intent but the very words of the Supreme Court's decision in upholding Prop. 8, we thought it was necessary to clarify the legal status of thousands of legally married couples.''